1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus that can control processing for enabling users to update default values of print settings for a printer driver. The present invention further relates to a control method and a computer-executable storage medium, which are usable to control the information processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
When users want to print document data and graphics data after the users have generated the data on a computer, it is general to activate a printer driver installed on the computer to convert print data (i.e., data to be rendered) into printer language data and transmit the printer language data to a printer. When a user changes and/or inputs setting values via a user interface that can be provided by an application or a printer driver, print settings (sheet type, two-sided printing, color printing, selections of sheet feeding cassette, etc.) are written in a printer language based on the setting values determined by the user and transmitted as printer language data.
The print settings initially set, when a printer driver is installed, are standard default values that are stored in the printer driver beforehand. The standard default values are fundamental values usable for a “reset to default” function of a user interface provided by the printer driver. Further, according to Windows® OS provided by Microsoft Corporation, print settings are stored in a registry database. In this case, not only the print settings dedicated to each user but also the standard default values are stored in the registry. The standard default values stored in the registry can be changed by an administrator who can change “standard settings.” The standard default values are usable for initial print settings in a case where a printer driver of a shared printer is downloaded from a server to a client.
It is generally required to complete the print settings every time when each user instructs a printer to perform printing. Alternatively, users can update default values of the print settings beforehand. According to Windows®, users can open various user interfaces of a printer driver from a printer folder to perform settings. The print setting values having been set by a user are stored in the registry, and can be used as default values of print settings usable in an application. For example, when a user wants to fix the sheet size to a predetermined size (e.g., B5), and further when the user wants to constantly perform monochrome printing, the user generally performs print settings using a printer folder beforehand and updates the default values of the print settings.
When an IT administrator distributes a printer driver from a print server, the IT administrator may want to designate predetermined default values of print settings beforehand. For example, the IT administrator may request users to always select 2UP or two-sided printing for the purpose of decreasing the consumption amount of sheets. In such cases, the IT administrator changes the values of the above-described “standard settings” and prepares a shared printer driver based on the changed print settings to let each client download and install the shared printer driver.
However, each user can freely opens user interfaces of a printer driver from a printer folder and update the default values according to user's preference. Therefore, a print result obtained by each client may not the one that was initially intended by the IT administrator. To solve the above-described problem, as discussed in Unexamined Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-192219, there is a conventional method for enabling an administrator to lock print setting data of a printer driver to prevent the setting values from being changed by users.
The above-described method is useful to surely fix the values of the print settings. However, there may be a lesser degree of freedom for individual users. For example, in a case where some documents to be distributed for common use in an office are printed by N-up or two-sided monochrome printing and another documents to be delivered to individual clients are printed by one-sided and color printing, it is necessary to install two printer drivers because print settings need to be fixed and cannot be changed. Hence, according to a conventional method discussed in Unexamined Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-122137, even in a case where a user updates default values stored in a registry having been set by a user, print setting contents of the “standard settings” are rewritten in synchronization with the registry having been set by the user at predetermined timing.
However, there may be a problem if the print settings of the “standard settings” are forcibly synchronized at predetermined timing. For example, a user may perform print settings before generating a document. In such a case, according to the above-described method, the print settings will be changed at timing not intended by the user while the user is still writing the document. As a result, the user will not be able to obtain a printed product according to the print settings that the user has designated.
Further, even in a case where the above-described synchronization timing is arbitrarily changeable, if a synchronization time is long or the frequency of the synchronization is lower, a state where the default values have been updated by a user will last for a long time. It becomes difficult to force users to use the print settings that are designated by the IT administrator. On the other hand, if the synchronization time is short or the frequency of the synchronization is higher, the standard settings will soon return to the original values and, therefore, it becomes difficult for users to freely change the default values of the print settings.